Texas Public Policy Foundation disputes EPA’s regulations

The Texas Public Policy Foundation released a report Monday attacking 10 new regulations put forth by the Environmental Protection Agency, claiming the “avalanche” of rules will damage an already limping economy by $1 trillion and cause hundreds of thousands of jobs to be lost.

In the report, the highly influential conservative think-tank says the large number of regulations, which are slated to go into effect during the next three years, are a result of “manipulated science” and do not offer health benefits. The regulations cover greenhouse gases, cross-state pollution, ozone quality, and industrial controls on industrial boilers, Portland cement kilns, cooling water intake systems and coal combustion.

The TPPF report argues that pollution in Texas has decreased considerably since 1980 and says the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule will have the sharpest impact on Texas and could result in rolling blackouts in the state next summer.

Kathleen Hartnett White

“Never in its 40-year history has EPA simultaneously promulgated so many major environmental rules characterized by converging effective dates, massive compliance costs, and mandates exceeding existing technological controls,” said the report’s author, Kathleen Hartnett White. “Nor has EPA before relied on such speculative, manipulated science to justify this most aggressive regulatory agenda to date.”

Cyrus Reed, conservation director for the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, said the majority of these rules are not new, except for the Greenhouse Gas Regulations, and they are in place to protect human’s health and the environment. He said the regulations are not based on faulty science, but rather “thousands of pages of reports” that suggest the industry costs are justified by keeping people healthy.

Tom Smith, director of the Texas branch of Public Citizen, agreed with Reed that the regulations are not new, but “processes of development for 20 years.”

“Responsible companies have been preparing for years, but a few outliers found it cheaper to invest in politicians and public policy foundations rather than pollution controls,” Smith said.

Smith said the TPPF’s Board of Directors is a “whose who of right-wing foundations, chemical and oil and gas companies.”

Joshua Trevino, vice president of communications for the TPPF, said the organization takes donor anonymity “very seriously” and does not disclose its contributors.

According to Exxon Mobil’s website, the oil company donated $20,000 to TPPF in 2009.

Paul Sadler, executive director of the Wind Coalition, recognized the need for a happy medium between EPA regulations and the energy industry.

“Some of the most important employers in our state also create run-off and pollutants that threaten the safety of our air and water,” said Sadler, the Democrat frontrunner in the U.S. Senate race. “Surely, as Texans, we can find a balance between the responsible preservation of our air, water and natural resources, and our businesses.”